MARKETING

Contribution of the course to the overall degree programme goals
This course covers the activities of the Business Administration and Management course, enabling students to gain knowledge and understanding of the main concepts relating to the company's relationship with the market and the construction of value for customers.
The main objective of the course is to provide students with a broad introduction to marketing concepts, how these concepts fit into the overall business strategy and how they influence management and decision-making. The basic concept is the creation of company value through marketing strategies and actions following ethical behaviour.
A special focus will be on international and cross-cultural marketing strategies.
Students will develop a practical knowledge of the marketing mix not only with regard to product marketing, price, communication, distribution, but also with regard to elements that have steadily gained in importance, such as brand, personal relationship, use of social media, reputation, storytelling, etc. Systems for analysing consumer and buyer behaviour and expectations, segmentation, the product life cycle and other key components will be analysed, with the most recent trends concerning sustainability, digitisation processes and the challenges of artificial intelligence.

1. Knowledge and understanding
● Knowing the correct marketing terminology.
● Knowing the different marketing tools used by companies and their interaction.
● Knowing the basics of the strategic marketing behavior of the companies in the markets.
2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
● Knowing how to recognize correctly which marketing tools and activities are involved in the various company-market relationship situations.
● Knowing how to make a simple analysis of the marketing problems that a company faces daily.
● Being able to recognize the key aspects of a marketing decision and its implementation.
● Being able to work in a team to solve complex problems.
3. Ability to judge
● To know how to formulate and to argue simple hypotheses of solution to marketing problems, also developing a critical approach to the evaluation of alternative hypotheses.
4. Communication skills
● Know how to use appropriate language in describing aspects of business marketing.
● Know how to interact with peers, in a critical and respectful way, oriented towards problem solving.
5. Learning skills
● Knowing how to critically consult the reference texts and the bibliography contained in them.
● Knowing how to find, collect and select useful information from various sources for solving marketing problems

Students need to have passed the exam of the PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ACCOUNTING course.

Marketing and value creation
STP – Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Market orientation and market research
Marketing mix – Product, pricing, communication and distribution strategies
Branding
Consumer Behavior
Marketing’s role in new product and new product categories development

Lectures' slides provided by the instructor

Textbook:
T. Vescovi Create - Marketing - McGraw-Hill

Suggested readings:
Pinelli M. Lechner C., Kraus S. Liguori E. (2021) Entrepreneurial value creation: Conceptualizing an exchange-based view of entrepreneurship. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. DOI: 10.1108/JSBED-04-2021-0155
Pinelli, M., Einstein, M. (2019). Religion, science and secularization: a consumer-centric analysis of religion’s functional obsolescence. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 36(5), 582–591. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-11-2017-2451
Brunetta F., Peruffo E., Pinelli M. (2018). Driver di cambiamento e digital enabler. In Boccardelli P. and Iacovone S. " L'«impresa» di diventare digitale. Come la rivoluzione tecnologica sta influenzando la gestione d'impresa”. Società Editrice Il Mulino. ISBN 978-88-15-27404-5 Pag. 43-51

Written exam
Bonus points on top of the exam’s score will be assigned to students who actively participate in class and the group project.

Regarding the grading scale (criteria for assigning grades):
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Sufficient knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Limited ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Sufficient ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.

B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Fair knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Fair ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Fair ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.

C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Good to excellent knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Good to excellent ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Good to excellent ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of outstanding knowledge and applied understanding of the program, excellent judgment skills, and exceptional communication abilities.

written

Regarding the grading scale (criteria for assigning grades):
A. Scores in the 18-22 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Sufficient knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Limited ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Sufficient ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.

B. Scores in the 23-26 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Fair knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Fair ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Fair ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.

C. Scores in the 27-30 range will be assigned in the presence of:
Good to excellent knowledge and understanding of the course program;
Good to excellent ability to apply knowledge and formulate independent judgments;
Good to excellent ability to communicate using the appropriate technical language of the subject.
D. Honors will be awarded in the presence of outstanding knowledge and applied understanding of the program, excellent judgment skills, and exceptional communication abilities.

The course includes frontal lectures, case studies’ discussions, guest lectures by entrepreneurs and/or professionals, workshop for the development of relevant technical skills (e.g., project management, MS Excel).

Students need to sign in the Moodle page of the course to access slides, additional materials and updated news about the course.